Developing a standard that’s worth promoting

Processing shirts can be big business. Once seen as a loss leader, shirt services are now regarded by many drycleaners as an essential part of the business, increasing profitability at a time when demand for traditional drycleaning is in decline.

Developing a reliable, good quality shirt service can be a great income generator for a drycleaner, but also provides a spin-off effect, according to Jason Alexander, managing director of Renzacci UK.

He explains that a business that offers a shirt service will also attract increased sales in other areas as customers will often bring in additional garments when they bring in the shirts.

But Alexander agrees that some launderers may use shirt finishing as a promotional tool to sell other parts of their service which they see as more lucrative.

“Certainly if shirts are being processed manually then the labour input is very high and it is difficult to make a good return,” he says. “However, as we have proved with the Pony Angel, productivity can be quite high. A skilled operator can handle as many as 50 shirts per hour and that makes the service profitable in its own right.”

Alexander says that it is important to promote the service. “All the usual ways apply – in-store EPOS, offers, newspaper advertising, SMS messaging and local leaflet drops.

“A cut-price shirt service is often used to spearhead a more general promotional campaign.” He says that as a specialist supplier of shirt finishing equipment Renzacci UK will readily advise businesses on the marketing approaches that work.

Delivering shirts that are well pressed, in good condition and nicely presented and packaged is essential to provide a service that will keep the customer satisfied.

Swiss Laundry on Cambridge’s Cherry Hinton Road has been in the hands of the Turvill family for over 70 years and the managing director Guy Turvill is the third generation of his family in the post.

Offering specialist drycleaning, laundry and linen hire services, the business continues to be based upon traditional family values with the focus on detail and customer service.

When the company decided to broaden its shirt laundering service last year, it approached Renzacci UK, the sole UK distributor for Pony finishing equipment, as it had previously bought both Pony equipment and Renzacci drycleaning machines.

Swiss Laundry’s retail services manager, George Brown, visited Expo Detergo in Milan last October to see the Pony Angel shirt press for the first time and to compare its performance against that of other brands. Following this visit, Swiss Laundry placed an order with Renzacci UK for the Pony Angel and a Pony CCP collar and cuff press, which were installed in January this year.

Alexander claims that the Pony Angel, which was launched into the UK market late last year, has two distinct advantages over competitors – it produces a tangibly better result and its productivity is very high. He explains that while a manual operation may only be able to deal with 10 – 15 shirts per hour, the Pony Angel with a skilled operator can process up to 50, producing a perfect finish every time. These factors greatly influence the way a business views shirt services and the amount that it charges.

First hand information

Sarah Lacey has an established drycleaning business in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. Having decided that she wanted to grow this side of her business, she decided to obtain information at first hand and visited the Fimas factory in Italy.

Lacey was so impressed with the quality of the equipment and standard of finishing that she ordered the Fimas 296 shirt unit and 387 collar and cuff press from the manufacturer’s UK distributor Dane Realstar. The unit is currently processing 30 – 40 shirts per hour, which represents a fraction of the time previously taken to process this number. She adds that customers have noticed the improved quality and remarked on this.

Lacey intends to actively promote the shirt finishing side of her business. Flyers are now attached to every coat hanger used and she plans to advertise in the local press to announce that the business can provide a high quality shirt finishing service.

The Fimas 296 pressed shirt unit is specifically designed to handle high volumes. It is easy to use. The machine can handle both wet and dry shirts and gives a crisp firm finish to the body, yoke, shoulders, long and short sleeves and sleeve placket.

It applies a powerful vacuum over the whole area of the body form, producing a good finish on both small and large shirts. Large pressing plates allow the whole shirt, including the sides, to be pressed in one operation.

An adjustable blowing option allows the operator to program the machine to apply steam and air on the still-tensioned shirt. The side tensioners have fully adjustable width and tensioning controls.

The sleeve height can be adjusted during the pressing cycle, so that the sleeves are stretched as far as possible to remove creases.

Short sleeves are held in place by a perforated clamp to ensure that the garment is completely dry.

The Fimas 296 can be teamed with the Fimas 387 collar and cuff press. This has a steam-heated easy-to-clean, polished-head top buck and safety rail. The lower buck is fixed while the moving upper buck is operated by push-button. Pads prevent pressure marks from buttons. It is also timer controlled, has full vacuum and push-button controls for closing.

The Fimas 387 collar and cuff press can be connected to central steam services. Alternatively it can be suppled with a 36kW boiler that can produce steam for both the collar and cuff press and the shirt finisher.

As well as supplying a full range of Fimas shirt units, Dane Realstar supplies equipment from its long-term partner Sidi Mondial.

The Italian company’s latest offering is the top-of-the-range Sidi Major Plus. This latest form finisher in the Major series comes with a shoulder-pressing device. It also has a yoke and tuck press as standard, so reducing cycle times and cutting energy consumption by over 25%.

Len Woollard at Unit Steam, the Essex-based supplier of finishing and ironing equipment, says the shirt finishing station produced by the USA manufacturer Hoffman is ideal for the small- and mid-sized textile care plants.

A complete air-operated system assures high production and years of trouble free operation, says Woollard. Consisting of a collar and cuff press, a bosom press and a sleeve-post press, the unit can deliver high-quality, high-volume, low-cost finishing.

The Hoffman robotic shirt tensioning system has been developed to finish the entire body and sleeves of men's and womens’ shirts, blouses, and polo shirts, in one operation.

The ergonomic design incorporates a simplified height adjustment system. It gives a superior finish, whether processing wet, damp or dry garments. Features include a self-contained vacuum/blower for positioning, setting and cooling the placket and automatic side-seam and back tensioning functions. Used with the company’s ALC-8 collar and cuff press, a typical drycleaning business can achieve a rate of 35 – 40 shirts per hour with one operator.

Important service

Shirts are a big part of the business at London’s Kensington Dry Cleaners, which processes around 700 – 800 shirts a day on its Sankosha double-buck shirt finisher and double-buck collar and cuff machine.

The pressed finish gives the shirt a perfect appearance, which is very important for the customers, says Kensington’s general manager Dave Pires. The shop charges £7 for five shirts and customers tend to bring their shirts in on a weekly basis in lots of five. The company also offers free pick-up and delivery. The big advantage of the service, says Pires, is that customers often bring in their drycleaning at the same time, resulting in a higher return for the business.

The business recently installed a Sankosha LP185E double-buck shirt unit, the latest double-buck model from the Japanese manufacturer, which was supplied by Parrisianne Dry Cleaning Solutions.

Parrisianne had previously supplied and installed a single-buck shirt finisher from Sankosha, paired with its CN660E collar and cuff press.

As business has grown, Kensington Dry Cleaners has upgraded to a double-buck shirt unit (CF161E) and the LP300E rotary collar and cuff unit.

When the company decided it needed a second double-buck finisher, it again invited Parrisianne to quote and the result was this latest installation, which partners the Sankosha LP185E finisher with the LP370E collar and cuff unit.

Dave Pires says the quality of the Sankosha equipment supplied previously by Parrisianne left them in no doubt about placing the next order.

He says that the machines had been in place for over five years and that the business worked six, sometimes seven days a week. During this time the business had never needed to stop production and had only replaced the machines’ pads and covers and a couple of small air valves.

This latest purchase by Kensington Dry Cleaners was the 250th piece of Japanese-made Sankosha finishing equipment installed in the UK by Parrisianne.

James Holt, managing director of Parrisianne, says the shirt market in the UK still has massive growth and this was one of the main reasons Parrisianne accepted Sankosha`s invitation to be the sole distributor for its products in the UK.

Holt says Parrisianne has been very fortunate to be associated with Sankosha, a shirt machine manufacturer with a research programme that is devoted to finding ways to improve its machines to help the end-user with shirt production and quality and to build a machine that lasts.

On machine selection Holt firmly believes that customers should look for a shirt press that is tried and tested and that will last.

The Sankosha LP185E features improved side expanders that open early to eliminate wrinkles, “soft tensioning”, which reduces tension on shirt sleeves quickly after finishing and a more powerful self-contained blower/vacuum motor that reduces cycle times.

Increasing turnover

Developing a shirt service can be an excellent way for drycleaners increase turnover, according to Stephen Pick, sales and service director at Service Machinery Limited (SML). He says that providing a shirt service can improve the relationship with established customers and attract extra business.

It is evident that a quality shirt service does bring additional customers to the store and this inevitably produces more revenue from services such as drycleaning and duvet cleaning.

He also notes that there has been an increase in shirts made from natural fibres. Variations with pockets, creases and appliqués add to the difficulty of ironing at home and customers are looking for a quality service at an affordable price.

Depending on the mix of labour cost and pricing, a Veit shirt finishing system can justify its purchase price on less than 100 shirts a day. This number can be finished in a little over two hours.

“A Veit shirt finisher will reduce costs, allowing prices to be lowered while maintaining margin and driving increased volume,” says Pick. “The result is higher profit.”

As a leading manufacturer of finishing and ironing equipment, Veit offers a wide range of shirt finishing equipment. All units can handle shirts straight from a high-speed washer-extractor without any pre-drying.

The Veit universal finisher 8319 is said to be an ideal machine for small and middle-sized laundries. The system’s high-performance hot air fan allows a wide range of washed garments, including spin-dry shirts, blouses, smocks and chefs’ jackets, to be finished quickly without creases.

Dry garments such as jackets and coats can also be finished on this machine. Like all shirt finishers in the 83 series, the machine is equipped with the patented Veit belt drive for precise tensioning.

The high performance shirt finisher 8326 is used mainly in laundries and textile care plants with higher shirt volumes.

Up to 45 shirts per hour of different sizes, materials and shapes can be finished on this machine to the highest quality standard.

A colour touchscreen display provides intuitive access to the 8326’s many features. The operator can select pre-programmed settings or make adjustments to the steam and air times, select long- or short-sleeve setting and change the tensioning as required.

BMM Weston is the UK distributor for USA shirt finishing equipment company Unipress Corporation, which manufactures the most complete range of top quality, high production shirt units.

The Unipress Lightning range includes single- or double-buck models and an all-in-one unit that incorporates the collar and cuff press and body in one machine.

A system that helps to avoid or reduce the need to touch-up a shirt after finishing makes a significant contribution to a shirt service’s profitability, says BMM Weston and the Lightning range comes close to producing the perfect shirt every time.

The diverse range of collar and cuff presses now includes the Q4T twin-buck rotary press. This is capable of processing two shirts at the same time. While one shirt is being loaded, the other is being pressed, saving time and improving efficiency.